Data summary

Key data

Basic Group info

Key data
  Units 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
Number of countries 112 112 111 110 110
Number of offices   3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000
Benchmarks  
FTSE4Good   Member Member Member Member Member
CDP   A- 97 B 98 B 95 B 81 B

Economic

Key data - economic
  Units 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
Billings £m 55,245 47,632 46,186 46,209 44,405
Revenue £m 14,389 12,235 11,529 11,019 10,373
Headline PBIT £m 2,160 1,774 1,681 1,662 1,531
Market capitalisation at year-end £m 24,500 20,237 17,831 18,613 11,237
Staff costs £m 7,785 6,653 6,440  6,477 6,106
Taxation £m 389 248 300 284 197

Social investment

Key data - social investment
  Units 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
Charitable donations £m 7.0 5.9 4.8 4.9 5.0
Arts % 4 4 9 6 6
Education % 21 23 22 20 19
Environment % 1 1 2 2 1
Health % 20 23 22 21 15
Human rights % 8 8 4 – –
Local community % 47 41 40 21 24
Pro bono £m 12.5 13.5 17.0 14.7 11.1
Arts % 8 5 6 4 7
Education % 21 13 17 14 15
Environment % 7 5 5 6 5
Health % 24 37 39 29 18
Human rights % 7 5 2 – –
Local community % 32 36 31 20 26
Social investment (excl. free media space) £m 19.5 19.4 21.8 19.6 16.2
As a proportion of profit before tax % 1.03 1.30 1.51 1.51 1.48
Free media space £m 22.8 20.7 25.1 19.8 14.3
Total social contribution (incl. free media space) £m 42.3 40.2 46.9 39.4 30.5
As a proportion of profit before tax £m 2.23 2.70 3.24 3.04 2.79

Our people

Key data - our people
  Units 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
Headcount  
Excluding people from associate companies   134,000 128,000 124,000 119,000 116,000
Including people from associate companies   198,000 190,000 179,000 175,000 166,000
Age  
19 or under % 0 0 0 1 1
20-29 % 36 36 36 36 36
30-39 % 37 37 38 37 37
40-49 % 18 18 18 18 18
50-59 % 7 7 7 7 7
60 and over % 2 2 1 1 1
Gender  
WPP Board % women 29 29 24 29 19
Executive leaders % women 34 33 31 32 32
Senior managers % women 48 47 46 47 47
All staff % women 54 54 54 54 54
Ethnicity in the UK and US  
Executive leaders % minority 16 13 11 10 11
Senior managers % minority 21 20 19 18 18
All staff % minority 28 26 26 25 23
Training £m 45.1 41.1 38.2 40.0 38.1
Paid internships and apprenticeships   6,413 5,378 5,911 4,000 –
Days lost due to sickness per person   3.2 3.0 3.2 3.5 3.4

Client work

Key data - client work
  Units 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
Revenue from clients who engaged
with us on sustainability		 £bn 1.64 1.29 1.35 1.26 0.76
As a % of total revenue % 11.4 10.6 11.2 10.6 7.3

Environment

Key data - environment
  Units 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
  • * Renewable electricity rated at zero emissions.
  • † In 2015, we had to estimate our paper consumption. This year we are able to use actual data. This means it is not possible to compare performance year-on-year.
Carbon footprint*  
Total CO2e emissions tonnes 249,782 264,774 281,389 279,859 283,321
Scope 1 emissions from stationary fuel combustion tonnes 7,851 8,135 9,748 11,305 9,840
Scope 2 emissions from purchased electricity tonnes 115,021 123,218 138,348 136,171 140,446
Scope 2 emissions from purchased heat and steam tonnes 1,884 – – – –
Scope 3 emissions from business air travel tonnes 92,445 98,885 96,590 95,879 96,080
Scope 3 emissions from other estimated impacts tonnes 32,581 34,536 36,703 36,503 36,955
Total CO2e emissions per person tonnes/FTE 1.86 2.07 2.28 2.35 2.45
Total CO2e emissions per £m revenue tonnes/£m 17.36 21.64 24.41 25.40 27.31
Office energy use  
Total energy use megawatt hours 399,037 354,018 359,620 380,906 369,255
Direct energy use (natural gas and heating oil) megawatt hours 37,174 38,287 44,847 52,532 45,673
Indirect energy use (purchased electricity) megawatt hours 301,863 315,731 314,773 328,374 323,582
Energy use per person kilowatt hours/FTE 2,524 2,763 2,909 3,198 3,191
% electricity from renewable sources % 22 21 14 15 16
Business air travel  
Total business air travel million miles 571 588 560 538 490
Long haul million miles 297 316 306 303 346
Medium haul million miles 213 215 200 171
Short haul million miles 60 58 54 64 144
Business air travel per person miles/FTE 4,249 4,591 4,532 4,519 4,237
Paper†  
Total paper purchased tonnes 4,460 4,897 5,101 6,584 5,879
Paper purchased with recycled content or FSC/PEFC Certified % 23 31 – – –
Waste and Recycling  
Total non-recycled waste tonnes 4,111 3,059 – – –
Breakdown by category  
Incineration (energy recovered) % 16 22 – – –
Incineration (non-energy recovered) % 17 9 – – –
Landfill % 62 64 – – –
Unknown % 5 5 – – –
Total waste recycled tonnes 6,122 5,713 5,416 5,106 4,886
Breakdown by category  
Paper and cardboard % 73 71 73 81 82
IT waste % 2 2 3 3 3
Other waste recycled % 25 27 24 16 15